I got a chance to see Contagion over the weekend and I have to say I liked it. As an emergency response professional with a medical background, I watched it with a critical eye to see how they portrayed how a real pandemic might unfold.

I remember one newspaper column from nearly a year ago that has stuck with me: a physician boasting about his refusal to engage with biopharmaceutical research companies. He was proud of his decision, but he went so far as to confess that he doesn't always know about new medicines reaching the market.

Today, the FDA published the PDUFA-V performance goals letter, detailing the agreement that resulted from many months of technical negotiations between the biopharmaceutical industry and FDA, with unprecedented input from a variety of stakeholders, including patients and medical provider groups.

As part of our ongoing blog series on Medicare Part D, The Catalyst caught up with former four-term Wisconsin Governor and former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson.
The Catalyst: Governor, you were HHS Secretary when Medicare Part D was enacted by Congress in 2003. If you would, tell about your early experience with the program.

Since launching The Catalyst earlier this year, we've covered a number of economic, health and policy issues that, regardless of outcome, stand to impact millions worldwide. In our first post, we made the point that none of us have all the answers, which makes it especially critical that we hear from a range of experts, thought leaders and Catalyst readers to get to the bottom of key issues.

If you've not already done so, I highly recommend you take a look at the new PhRMA video highlighting one woman's efforts to live with and overcome arthritis. Melinda Winner's story is inspirational, as is her fight against arthritis and zest for living her life to the fullest. What's important to remember is that the challenges she faces daily - and how she copes with the disease - are not unique. Ms. Winner's story is just one of the many stories of patients and their families finding ways to live with disease.

On Monday, I wrote on the importance of being prepared for an emergency. I did so thinking of Hurricane Irene. We're expecting some contact with Irene as it rolls up the East Coast, so I thought it was a good time to remind everyone of the general value of emergency preparedness.

"Horrifying," that's how one of my colleagues here described this item detailing the growing toll of the diabetes pandemic. The bottom line? One in four adults in the U.S. now has diabetes, a number that has doubled in just the past 30 years.